Chapter 18
I'd just left Pila's Workshop and was heading to Borudo's Blacksmith. My plan was to hand over the red logs I'd collected to the alchemist. The heartwood of trees infused with Red Moon magic served as a valuable catalyst. Even if some mana was lost in the process, wood soaked in Red Moon magic was precious in itself, with plenty of uses.
"It's around here. Search every inch."
"Yes, sir."
As I entered the alley, adventurers in matching uniforms were combing the area. They spotted me, flinched in surprise, and hurried past, continuing their search nearby.
"Not often you see those guys around here."
Adventurers in identical uniforms—clearly from a clan. They had bases outside the walls, so no reason for them to come into town. Clans had their own blacksmiths and hired wandering mages to slap on crude enchantments.
From the snippets of conversation echoing in the alley, it sounded like they were chasing someone.
'No tracking quests at this point in the story, though?'
It was right after the clan adventurers had passed out of sight. Something rustled in a pile of reeking trash, twitching faintly. Under a tattered cloth canopy was a wretched figure crusted with scabs and filth.
It was Darko.
He looked up at me with bloodshot, dazed eyes. Spotting me lifting the canopy, he shrank back like I'd come to drag him to the afterlife.
"H-Hiiik!"
He scrambled backward on hands and feet through the muck, until he hit the building wall. No escape left, his jaw trembled violently.
"E-Eck... B-Brother."
A pathetic, wheezing rasp leaked from his split lips.
"You here to kill me? P-Please, just spare my life? Yeah?"
"..."
From the look of him, the nobles had thoroughly abandoned him. Probably beaten half to death by guys nursing grudges against him, yet here he was, eyes wide with desperate will to live.
I held no grudge against the guy myself. Sending his goon after Elis had pissed me off, but it ended up being the key trigger that made Elena rely on me. Still, I wasn't entirely free of resentment, so I considered decking him once for good measure.
'Should I drag him to Elena?'
She'd probably want some payback. But I dropped the idea. Clinging to old plot threads from past playthroughs would just distract her.
Still, after all the time I'd spent as Eck, there was some lingering attachment—or maybe just curiosity—so I tossed him a question.
"Why're your clan buddies chasing you?"
The clan adventurers I'd seen earlier were definitely after Darko. And their vice-leader was Darko's wife.
"Th-That bitch... I don't wanna talk about her...!"
"Hmph. Fine."
Losing interest, I turned away. Just then, a voice rang out.
"He couldn't have gotten far. Search the back again! This time, comb every corner thoroughly—no slacking! No going home till we find him!!"
A shout laced with killing intent echoed through the alley. Darko's face drained of color.
"B-Brother...!"
Darko crawled toward me on all fours like an animal, clutching my pant leg.
"S-Sorry! J-Just spare me this once. I-I'll do anything...! E-Elena? I'll apologize to that girl too! S-So... h-hik!"
Darko pulled the canopy over himself, burrowing into the trash pile.
"..."
"Ugh...!"
The clan adventurers heading our way spotted me and froze, then veered off down another path.
"Boss, what about this way?"
"Shut it if you don't know. Can't you see who's there?! Mess with him and we're the ones who end up dead."
The clan adventurers filed away down the other alley. They'd suffered plenty at my—Eck's—hands before, but more precisely, they were avoiding me because of my connection to Darko. Outsiders thought Darko had earned my wrath, after all.
"Y-You're the best, brother."
"Cut it. Explain."
"W-Well..."
Darko's filth-smeared face twisted with ugly veins of blood. Pure hatred burned in his eyes.
Darko had a wife and daughter. He'd lived a cushy life. As the guild's sword instructor, he had a cushy iron rice bowl, noble backing, and enough pull to influence the guild even in retirement. His wife was the clan vice-leader, so their positions meshed perfectly. They used each other while pretending to care.
"That wife of mine, the fucking...!"
But that "mutual using" dynamic had crumbled.
"She'd been screwing the clan leader for ages... Urk... That bitch... I loved her... Said we'd be together forever..."
"I see."
You two were just using each other from the start.
"But you didn't love your wife either, right?"
"I fucking loved her!"
Contradicting everything he'd ever said before, but I wasn't expecting logic from a cornered rat.
"If you're that pissed, why not beg Daryl?"
"Daryl... I had a feeling..."
Had a feeling?
"She was the clan leader's daughter."
"Damn."
I almost felt sorry for him.
"Came home and found her buck naked, belly-to-belly with the clan leader. I lunged at them... and my wife, she... When I asked what about Daryl... she said she wasn't even my blood... Urk... Hic... How could she say that after I raised her...!"
Darko slammed his forehead into the muddy ground, sobbing.
"Brother, I'm innocent! I devoted my life to that woman, busted my ass to provide... She took everything, left me with jack shit! Aren't you and me bros?"
"What makes you think that?"
"Brothers! Please! I'm begging you! I can't die like this—it's too unfair!"
His desperate wail echoed through the narrow alley. The cry of a man who'd lost everything and been dumped in the gutter. Pitiful, really.
I stared down at his crown with blank indifference. The guy who'd wielded petty power, ruined lives, and laughed about it—now whining that his own collapse was unfair.
Eck had been trash too, but at least he never forgot his own sins.
"Who're you calling brother? I only looked out for you to keep the nobles off my back. There was never anything between us."
"B-Brother..."
I glared, and his face turned ashen. I shook off his arm from my pant leg and kicked him away.
Thud.
"Gahk!"
"Don't cling to me, trash."
I glanced down the alley.
"Hey, Yasumelo! Darko's here! Come get him!"
Thick, metallic voices responded from the distance, hunting Darko.
"Hiiik!"
Darko's eyes bulged with peak terror and despair. Amid the fear flickered raw fury.
"E-Eck you devil bastard! I'll curse you! May the kid you raised betray you and eat you alive!!!"
Spitting his curse in rage, Darko clawed through the trash and fled just before the clan adventurers arrived. I chucked a worn-out shoe rolling at my feet at the back of his head.
Thwack!
He crumpled, and the clan adventurers rushed past me, stomping him down.
Their leader halted before me.
"Thanks for the help."
"Almost killed him myself but handed him over instead. Make good use of him."
"Yes, sir. Sending him to the mines for life. He'll pay dearly for offending the noble. Thank you for the opportunity."
A clan that rose name-dropping nobles would grind Darko until the noble's mood improved. Killing him might anger the clan, but keeping him alive and slaving him away would soothe the noble. Brutal.
Nobles never forgave stains on their name. Only those who'd endured their obsessive pursuit of face truly knew.
"Kek... S-Spare... Gurk!"
"You bastard! After eating my daughter! Don't think you'll die easy!"
"Bet you groped Jeina's ass every day?! Just drop dead!"
Dragged away and trampled, that was the last I'd ever see of Darko.
I turned and headed back toward Borudo's Blacksmith.
I left the red logs with the old alchemist for refining. With preparations mostly done before the Red Moon rose, I returned to the guild and slumped into my usual seat, downing the ale Jeina brought.
Only thing left on today's to-do list: welcoming Elena home.
"Eck, lunch the usual?"
I'd come to the guild, and as always, took the lunch and ale from Jeina.
The orc shaman was probably done for. At Elena's current level, it was no match. The Ogre Leather Armor's anti-magic would shrug off the shaman's mana control anyway.
The problem was her party members. No way they'd dodged the aphrodisiac spores.
'The answer's using Mira.'
Detox Mira first, get her mobile, then let aphrodisiac-addled Mira handle the other two. But panic blinds you to obvious solutions.
I tilted my glass.
Gulp, gulp.
"Urgh..."
My head buzzed. One glass and I was tipsy.
Anyway, if Elena heeded my advice, she'd still be a virgin. Otherwise, she'd use her body to save her party.
'That'd disappoint me.'
If Elena lost her virginity, I wouldn't mind. I could pivot her growth path to one leveraging her body. Honestly, that route was easier and faster. A year was long; I could get her to S-rank in three months.
Truth be told, rationally, I hoped Elena ditched her own virginity. My ultimate goal in meddling with her was survival. She had to get strong for me—for everyone—to live.
Yet she shunned the easy path...
'That's...'
Then the guild door burst open.
Elena rushed in, panting, and gasped out at the end of my gaze.
"U-Uncle, what do I do?"
"What happened?"
"W-Well..."
With a pale face, Elena explained.
"Hans and Duke... they turned into women."
For a second, I thought I'd misheard and cocked my head.
"What?"
"Hans and Duke became women! Th-Their things burst from the pressure... We showed a priest, and after healing..."
Ah, so that's how it went down. I got the picture.